Reality Check - America Not Working
By Tom Rhodes, 12/8/2014
The news last week is about Black Friday sales dropping 11% since last year, and China surpassing the USA as the world’s Number 1 economy. The question to as is: Is China doing better or the USA doing worse? And Why? Employment records tell the story. The USA is doing worse. America isn’t working anymore. To be the Number 1 economy you have to be doing stuff. We aren’t.
About 100 million American who could be working aren’t. We’re not talking about kids and old folk, but 1 in 4 Americans between the age of 25 and 54 are not working. How is it possible that 1 in 4 working aged adults is idle? That idleness translates into a declining economy.
Here’s another interesting fact. 1 in 4 kids live below the poverty level. Now the description of poverty in the USA doesn’t match the description of poverty in other parts of the world. Does the fact that 1 in for adults in their prime working age are idle matches the 1 in 4 kids living in poverty sound coincidental?
Think about what it means when 1 in 3 adults between the age of 25 and 54 are working. Remember TANSTAAFL . To feed, and provide entertainment to the 100 million non-working adults even at what the USA classifies as poverty levels isn’t cheap. Not very many of those 100 million working age adults have a wealthy inheritance, nor are very many disabled. As of Novermber 2014 there are 119 Million full time workers. And of those 119 Million, around 30 Million work for the government. Full time government employees are paid out of tax dollars, hence other workers pay their salaries, they are by definition drain’s on non-government worker salaries. Ouch, That means that to support the 100 million non-working adults, plus 30 million government employees, and the 100 million or so kids, disabled, and old folks, there are only 90 Million people working.
That pretty much answers the question of why the USA is no longer the Number 1 economy in the world. We’re not working. That answers the question on why a middle class income can no longer afford to purchase a new car. We’re not working. That answers the question of why we spent $11 Billion less on Black Friday. We’re not working. That pretty much answers the question of why 1 in 4 kids live below the poverty level. We’re not working.
How is it possible that 100 Million working age adults don’t work? Are there that many stay at home moms? I don’t think so. Are there that many millionaires who are independently wealthy and don’t have to work? I don’t think so?
What makes that possible is a simple fact, in America today one doesn’t have to work in to eat. Not only don’t you have to work to eat, but the idle in the USA have cable TV, cell phones and free health care.
I would say soon you will see those working, quit working, why bother when you can get by without working, but I can't, soon is now. We’ve crossed the tipping point, and this is what it looks like when people go Galt. Why work if you don’t have to, especially when out of your pay check the government is going to take enough take care of somebody else. Why not be the somebody else? What does it look like when working age adults, go idle – China exceeds USA as Number 1 economy and Black Friday sales take a 11% drop.
Obama noticed and even said so, but just not clearly. Being a stay at home mom taking care of her kids is a choice "we don't want" women to make. He wants, nay needs, able bodied people working, but we're not, as a nation too many of us have gon Galt.
Showing posts with label John Galt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Galt. Show all posts
Monday, December 8, 2014
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Middle Class Going Galt
By Tom Rhodes, 3/20/2013
"Going Galt" a libertarian phrase that's not familiar to a lot of people but is gaining popularity in the public lexicon. It refers to people moving or taking other actions to reduce the amount of money confiscated by government, by taking their property and business outside of the government's confiscation ability. The most famous example in the US is Phil Mickelson contemplating retiring or moving to avoid excessive taxes. The news was filled with examples are French moving to England, Luxemburg, etc. to avoid new confiscatory taxes. Even extreme lefty Bill Maher is saying the Rich Pay their fair share.
It's relatively easy, for a person like Phil Mickelson, to go Galt. He has enough assets to live out his life comfortably without ever working again. For the average middle class person it's not so easy, but it's not impossible. The middle class going Galt is why Detroit went from an industrial powerhouse to a wasteland. Those people and businesses who could, left. My parents went Galt and escaped Detroit in 1972. What do I mean by they went Galt?
My dad left a major company in Detroit working as an automotive engineer with several prominent patents to his name to working as an electrician Florida. Went debt free and stayed that way. He went from working 70 hour work weeks to 40, but by moving to a state without income taxes, and a much smaller government foot print, we lived a similar standard of living on less total money. Much of America is doing just that. Private debt has fallen significantly since the bubble burst in 2008. Although many idiots still live with excessive credit card and other debt, much of America is listening to Dave Ramsey and seriously getting debt free, no credit card debt, no car payment, not even a mortgage if possible.
This is how the middle class go Galt. When the middle class decides to buy a $2500 clunker instead of plopping $2500 down on a new car and paying $400/mo to service that new debt, it changes the game. Banks don't make interest and the government is denied taxes from the sale of a new car. The more people do this the more it hurts the WallStreet-Kstreet cabal. It helps out your local garage, and smaller business.
The most common example of going Galt is Retirees, who do it all the time. Work and live in NY or Wisconsin for 40 years, then take your toys and move to Florida to retire, avoiding the property, income, and other taxes of those socialist states. Yes the weather is better, but more importantly the government no longer gets significant parts of your retirement income. Moderate homes in low crime areas are available in Florida for less than $75K, and have less than $1000/yr property taxes. Sell your Appleton Wi, home for a quarter million, move to Florida, pocket $150K, and reduce your annual tax burden by $4K/year. Put that money you profited from the sale of your home into a modest investment account, and it will return $6K a year. Thus moving from Appleton to a small town in Florida nets Grandma and Grandpa $10K a year and they don't have to shovel the sidewalk.
Taking your money out of the bank, buying silver or gold, or other tangible assets is also part of going Galt. Using cash and barter are all going Galt. Living smaller than you have too and saving is going Galt. Small businesses that decide to stay under 50 employees when they could expand but the owner decides the extra government intrusion isn't worth the effort is going Galt.
The fact is, like every similar society in history before us, our society is degrading and disintegrating economically, politically, socially, morally and spiritually. America is in permanent decline, period. Statists and leftists want to erode private property rights to prolong the illusion that our society is still stable and viable. The statists depend on a "dependent" society. Being independent, able to farm your own yard, fix your own car, live within your means, trade and barter and avoid the government is all part of going Galt. Those actions are make you independent, they are also biblical; 1ST Thessalonians 4:11-12 says, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."
You don't have to be rich to go Galt, just quit playing the statist game.
"Going Galt" a libertarian phrase that's not familiar to a lot of people but is gaining popularity in the public lexicon. It refers to people moving or taking other actions to reduce the amount of money confiscated by government, by taking their property and business outside of the government's confiscation ability. The most famous example in the US is Phil Mickelson contemplating retiring or moving to avoid excessive taxes. The news was filled with examples are French moving to England, Luxemburg, etc. to avoid new confiscatory taxes. Even extreme lefty Bill Maher is saying the Rich Pay their fair share.
It's relatively easy, for a person like Phil Mickelson, to go Galt. He has enough assets to live out his life comfortably without ever working again. For the average middle class person it's not so easy, but it's not impossible. The middle class going Galt is why Detroit went from an industrial powerhouse to a wasteland. Those people and businesses who could, left. My parents went Galt and escaped Detroit in 1972. What do I mean by they went Galt?
My dad left a major company in Detroit working as an automotive engineer with several prominent patents to his name to working as an electrician Florida. Went debt free and stayed that way. He went from working 70 hour work weeks to 40, but by moving to a state without income taxes, and a much smaller government foot print, we lived a similar standard of living on less total money. Much of America is doing just that. Private debt has fallen significantly since the bubble burst in 2008. Although many idiots still live with excessive credit card and other debt, much of America is listening to Dave Ramsey and seriously getting debt free, no credit card debt, no car payment, not even a mortgage if possible.
This is how the middle class go Galt. When the middle class decides to buy a $2500 clunker instead of plopping $2500 down on a new car and paying $400/mo to service that new debt, it changes the game. Banks don't make interest and the government is denied taxes from the sale of a new car. The more people do this the more it hurts the WallStreet-Kstreet cabal. It helps out your local garage, and smaller business.
The most common example of going Galt is Retirees, who do it all the time. Work and live in NY or Wisconsin for 40 years, then take your toys and move to Florida to retire, avoiding the property, income, and other taxes of those socialist states. Yes the weather is better, but more importantly the government no longer gets significant parts of your retirement income. Moderate homes in low crime areas are available in Florida for less than $75K, and have less than $1000/yr property taxes. Sell your Appleton Wi, home for a quarter million, move to Florida, pocket $150K, and reduce your annual tax burden by $4K/year. Put that money you profited from the sale of your home into a modest investment account, and it will return $6K a year. Thus moving from Appleton to a small town in Florida nets Grandma and Grandpa $10K a year and they don't have to shovel the sidewalk.
Taking your money out of the bank, buying silver or gold, or other tangible assets is also part of going Galt. Using cash and barter are all going Galt. Living smaller than you have too and saving is going Galt. Small businesses that decide to stay under 50 employees when they could expand but the owner decides the extra government intrusion isn't worth the effort is going Galt.
The fact is, like every similar society in history before us, our society is degrading and disintegrating economically, politically, socially, morally and spiritually. America is in permanent decline, period. Statists and leftists want to erode private property rights to prolong the illusion that our society is still stable and viable. The statists depend on a "dependent" society. Being independent, able to farm your own yard, fix your own car, live within your means, trade and barter and avoid the government is all part of going Galt. Those actions are make you independent, they are also biblical; 1ST Thessalonians 4:11-12 says, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."
You don't have to be rich to go Galt, just quit playing the statist game.
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